Independence is dead as a political issue in Scotland for the next few years. This much should not be in any dispute. A Labour government with a crushing majority sits firmly in Westminster with absolutely no intentions of granting a second referendum, and the SNP has loudly and clearly abandoned any other strategy.
This fact is understandably painful and difficult to come to terms with for anyone who’s devoted the last 13 years (or more) to pursuing that cause and now isn’t quite sure what to do with theirself. But for those who still aren’t ready to face up to the unpleasant reality, there’s always the comforting world of fantasy.
Because there’s always money to be made from snake oil and pie in the sky.
The average rape sentence in Scotland is seven years, so to get six years plus three years’ supervision for the technically lesser crime of sexual assaults means they must have been pretty grim ones.
So we know that Cameron Downing is a very bad man. Which does rather invite the question of why he was so popular in the SNP.
The SNP have been pretty clear about the reason they think they got a battering in last week’s election: it was because people were voting to kick out the Tories.
Now, that’s obviously nonsense. There were almost no Tories in Scotland to start with – just 10% of voters had a Tory MP – and only one of the six actually lost his seat. (Which was entirely down to the ham-fisted interference of Douglas Ross rather than an SNP surge – the SNP’s vote share in the seat in question went DOWN.)
If you wanted to keep Tories out in Scotland all you had to do was keep voting for your current MP, most of whom were SNP, rather than risk splitting the anti-Tory vote by switching to Labour and risk letting the Tories squeeze through in the middle. (Which would have happened in many seats had the Tories’ own vote not collapsed.)
But if it was true that the SNP lost because the electorate thought the election was about getting rid of the Tories, whose fault was that?
To be honest, folks, we’re not quite sure what to do with ourselves at the moment.
Everyone and his wee dug is writing election-aftermath columns and offering the SNP advice of varying intelligence and solemnity about how to recover from the shattering blow they’ve just been dealt by Scottish voters.
But it’s a pointless exercise. They may as well be yelling down a manhole.
The Scottish Greens, in a feat of remarkable hubris and financial profligacy, stood 44 candidates in this week’s general election, knowing that most of them would lose their deposits, which they duly did.
But not quite all of them. And there the comedy arose.
Because while SNP boneheads on social media are raging idiotically at Alba, Wings and others for causing division and damaging the unity of the indy cause yada yada yada, a small handful of Green candidates made a real difference.
Cynicus on How Far To Go, How Far: “Mark Beggan says: 13 December, 2025 at 6:26 pm “I reckon 3-1 to St Mirren tomorrow.” ======== Is that a…” Dec 14, 00:21
Lorncal on How Far To Go, How Far: “No, Hatey, I get it completely because I’m a woman, and my survival as a woman depends on my getting…” Dec 13, 23:37
william G Walker on How Far To Go, How Far: “Saffron Robe is right in his forensic analysis as led by Stuart. He is also right in “objective reality” and…” Dec 13, 22:30
McDuff on How Far To Go, How Far: “Rev you are worth your weight in gold!” Dec 13, 21:34
Saffron Robe on How Far To Go, How Far: “Forensic analysis of the highest order, Stuart, of immense benefit to all those interested in the pursuit of justice which…” Dec 13, 21:00
Hatey McHateface on How Far To Go, How Far: “Far more importantly, if the pattern on the carpet has left an indelible mark, what tartan is it? That’s the…” Dec 13, 20:26
Hatey McHateface on How Far To Go, How Far: “@Alf Baird When you write that the need for decolonisation is “absolute and urgent” I wonder how it is that…” Dec 13, 20:22
Hatey McHateface on How Far To Go, How Far: “You missed one, Northy, phallusy.” Dec 13, 20:06
Hatey McHateface on The ginger stepchild: “Multiple accounts, Bilbo? How you must wish that was true. My “stalking” of you was me pointing out the quite…” Dec 13, 19:58
Northcode on How Far To Go, How Far: “I meant to do this earlier, but forgot. Here it is now, better late than never. Correction: “through-away” in paragraph…” Dec 13, 19:05
Mark Beggan on How Far To Go, How Far: “I reckon 3-1 to St Mirren tomorrow.” Dec 13, 18:26
Andy Wiltshire on How Far To Go, How Far: “Mistakes tending to both sides of a controversial question roughly equally may well be just mistakes. If they all point…” Dec 13, 16:49
James Barr Gardner on How Far To Go, How Far: “The real problem is ye jist cannae git the staff these days !” Dec 13, 15:40
Sven on How Far To Go, How Far: “You’d know, I’m sure, I wish you well “James Cheyne”; were every independence minded Scot as single minded, determined and…” Dec 13, 14:56
Northcode on How Far To Go, How Far: “Nae bother, James. The longer you stay around here the better as far as I’m concerned. And thanks for the…” Dec 13, 14:55
Northcode on How Far To Go, How Far: ““But that flame still burns.” I’ll tell you what ‘burns’… YOUR SHITTY RHETORIC! BOOM!!! Northcode drops the “Ad Hominem”, arm…” Dec 13, 14:46
James Cheyne on How Far To Go, How Far: “robertkknight, Better together, as the prime ministers statement once said. Why not have the upper ruling class grouped with the…” Dec 13, 14:36
James Cheyne on How Far To Go, How Far: “North code. Thank for those kind words, It would appear that I could be here for as long as the…” Dec 13, 14:23
robertkknight on How Far To Go, How Far: “I don’t think that there are any depths left to which the NuSNP Govt. won’t stoop. For years they’ve been…” Dec 13, 13:55
Stu on How Far To Go, How Far: “Lomcal, I don’t think there is. Like I said, if a judge was hypothetically going to go for a specific…” Dec 13, 13:17
Rob on How Far To Go, How Far: “I normally don’t normally give much credence to conspiracy theories, basic incompetence usually explains most of the screw up. However…” Dec 13, 13:16
Jill on How Far To Go, How Far: “The most generous reading of this debacle is that the judge is incompetent. I’m inclined to be less generous. Trans…” Dec 13, 13:09
Northcode on How Far To Go, How Far: “I for one will be sorry to see you leave this place, James. Your stoical perseverance in acquiring and presenting…” Dec 13, 12:58
Mark Beggan on How Far To Go, How Far: “Is that carpet burns on Swinney’s face?” Dec 13, 12:50
James Cheyne on How Far To Go, How Far: “Thoughts for today, I will retire and make way for others after the two year long wait from DWP and…” Dec 13, 12:36
Northcode on How Far To Go, How Far: ““…I write, as always, to educate the readers on the world’s most-read Indy website.” We uneducated plebians here on “the…” Dec 13, 12:22
James Cheyne on How Far To Go, How Far: “The gender issue of how to use women and children spaces as a trademark fetish is dangerous. I suppose if…” Dec 13, 12:06
